Words (TaoXChanyeolXreader fanfic)

Chapter 5: Yeol

"You know, Yeol, for the record, isn't a very creative nickname for someone names Chanyeol. It's like going by channy," was the first thing he said. He wasn't skinny anymore and he had gotten very tall. He dropped into the chair across from Chanyeol and gave him one of those silly radiant smiles he had. The little boy he had been was still there. His eyes were immediately familiar and he still hadn't learned to brush his hair properly. It was too long but he had grown up handsome and made it work.

"Sehun on the other hand, is hilarious and witty," Chanyeol said.

"Duck's are bloodthirsty little monsters, Duck is a name for a warrior," he said.

"Sehun's nickname at camp was Duck? Can I call him Duckie?" Victoria scoffed. Her husband narrowed his eyes in mock contempt and ignored the comment. In spite of himself, in spite of the way the little shards of glass in his heart were rubbing over each other at seeing them together, Chanyeol smiled at them. There was a silliness in Victoria that hadn't been there the last time they talked.

That undefinable something that followed his parents around like a haze was there as well. They were two people against the world. Brighter and truer versions of themselves just for being near each other. If a part of him had been whispering that maybe this wasn't a true match, it fell silent from just that one look.

"And your real name is?" Chanyeol said.

"Oh he's forfeit his real name with this bit of information, sehun's Duckie for the rest of this life," Victoria said leaning against his shoulder and poking him in the chest.

"Will," he said shoving her off while she giggled, "Tao. Don't start a war, Victoria, I will come up with worse things to call you than Duckie."

She snickered again and then asked Chanyeol what he wanted to drink adding, "Taoie's buying."

"I will divorce you and get myself one of those really expensive lawyers so that you are left penniless and destitute," Tao declared.

"You say that like you could survive for ten minutes without me," she shot back.

There was a little flurry of activity as drinks were bought. While Victoria stood in line, Tao pulled Chanyeol into a hug. He tensed for a split second before he returned it. People didn't hug Chanyeol. He kept his boundaries up too high for most people to attempt it. He hadn't grown up in a loveless home by any stretch of the imagination but his mother had been promoted and sent on her first diplomatic mission to China when he was nine and from that point forward affection was limited to family visits which were few and far between in a world of boarding schools and summer camp.

"I had been sure for a long time that it was you," Tao said into his ear.

"Me too," Chanyeol said.

"People told me that since I had read it, it didn't count but you said mine back, even if you were just repeating what I had said," Tao still hadn't let go of the hug, "And then you were gone. Just gone. There at breakfast and then gone. Nobody at that camp knew anything about you, vague things about moving to China and how your dad was the president of some country in Europe."

Tao finally let him go and Chanyeol was explaining what his mother did and where. They weren't world leaders but they were impressive enough to make Will raise his eyebrows at the story. When Victoria came back and put the tray of drinks down, Tao gave a far more dramatic recap.

She gave Tao a look that Chanyeol couldn't read. It reminded him that they had something he wasn't a part of. They did not talk about it. There was no mention of words, no theories or questions or demands for explanations.

They drank coffee and talked about everything else.

Anything else.

The conversation wound through the mundane topics. Families and majors and jobs. It touched on music and books and Tao recited the entire to be or not to be soliloquy from Hamlet at hyper speed in a muppet voice while Victoria laughed until she had to make him stop because she couldn't breathe. Chanyeol swung wildly between that perfectly comfortable feeling of a room full of old friends and something painful that tottered between sorrow and jealousy.

And then it was getting late and life was calling. Chanyeol had a paper to finish and Victoria and Tao lived off campus somewhere and the cafe was going to close and kick them out. Still, they lingered until they couldn't anymore. Tao gave him another hug and Victoria gave him a phone number and promises for a next time were made.

No one mentioned words. No one mentioned matches. After not nearly long enough, they left and Chanyeol went home alone.